I am different
by Nights-into-dreams
Summary: (First person point of view, one shot) Sephiroth's reflects on himself, and his life, as he proforms a mediating tai chi sword exercise, the morning that he is to go the reactor with Cloud...


AUTHOR'S NOTE:  

You love me…you really really love me!  Or else why would people leave reviews?…

* so happy *

Okay…I don't own Sephy-kun, nor do I own anything in the Final Fantasy VII universe.  I am just a poor peasant under the crushing heel of the bourgeoisie class…

This story takes place the morning that Sephy-kun is about to go with Cloud to the Mako Reactor…

And yes, this is a real exercise program, a sword Tai-chi exercise.  Oh yeah, this also only a first draft, but I hopefully will revise it someday…

Back to business…you know the drill by now.   Read, review, and e-mail me with comments.  My address is: 

sm_scales (at) yahoo.com

(at)=@ sign

Anyway, if I get enough reviews, then I will continue writing.  I bow to the will of the people.

This story I am dedicating to…Steph, Kat, any girl who has ever loved Sephy-kun.  Why? Because the world deserves a story form his point of view.

SOOOOO…lets start!

******

I am different.  

Even though no one dares to tell me that, I know it to be true.

Relax. 

The Lifestream cannot flow unless I am relaxed.

I close my eyes.

I let my mind go…

I pull the Masamune out of its sheath, and the long sword glistens brightly in the morning light.  I cast the sheath aside into the bushes, and I hear it make a soft landing.  I step forward through the patches of shadow created by the light strained through the criss-crossing tree branches overhead.  I feel the northeastern breeze pick up my long silvery hair, causing it to float gently behind and away from me.  I smell a redwood tree up ahead, and I hear the chirping of a robin and feel the light beating of its wings upon the air as it leaves a tree near my left.  

Eventually, I feel the ground beneath my feet metamorphose from a hard, rocky soil gradually into a soft and grassy meadow.

I stop.

Deep breath.

Hold. 

One.

Two.

Three.

Exhale.

With the wind on my back, I fall into a Ma Bu stance.

Feet apart, parallel, flat on ground.  Knees turned in slightly.

With hardly a thought, I shift from the stance, and enter into my morning ritual.

Shift the Masamune forward, and bring my feet together.

I balance on one leg, and then thrust.

Did my leg just shift minutely?

I hold my foot in the air, paused.

Now, perfectly balanced.

Maybe…

Maybe it was nothing.

I immediately drop into a crouch, and I sweep my sword cleanly through the air.

Yes…it probably was nothing.

I carry the Masamune to the right, and then shift it to the left.

I need to not think, just keep my eyes closed and relax.

Stand on my other leg, and then cut diagonally with an arm swing.

Wait…

I pause.

There defiantly was a slight minute movement in my other leg that time.

Maybe I am worried about this new mission.

But why?

That does not make sense.  It is a simple, extremely easy mission.  A simple seek and resolve operation.  One, two, three.  Easiest thing I have done in a long time. With little risk of fighting, nor of anything going wrong.

So why should I be bothered at all?

I feel my body tensing up, and I feel the Lifestream flowing away from me.

I take a deep breath, and gently push away any and all thoughts.

Step back, and withdraw sword.

Point the sword outward, stand on one leg.

Thrust.

Flip sword downward, thrust in left elbow stance, turn around.

Run back, lift knee, hop and thrust.

I know I am different, I can feel it. I have always been different.  I became SOLDIER's top soldier and a decorated war hero, while barely a teenager.

Swing sword up in empty stance left, and then in a right bow stance.

I never met my mother, Jenova.

But what is it I feel here, what is it that I am going to find?  I feel like I am going to find someone, SOMETHING, that will explain why I am different.

I'm losing focus.

Turn around, withdraw sword, and thrust feet together.  Parry in left bow stance.

And why is it that I talked to that low ranked Soldier?  That one whose hometown I am staying in right now.

It does not make sense, none at all to me.

Parry in right bow stance, and then again in the left bow stance.  

I can see tell, even with my eyes closed, that the sweat is rolling off of my body in streams, and mixing with the grassy dew under my feet.  

Step forward, and plunge backward.

Who is my mother anyway?  I never met her.  I was only told her name by that professor at Shinra…his name was Bast or Hast or something like that.

I need to thrust all thoughts away, and focus and relax my mind.

Turn around, and cut.  Point sword in right empty stance.

Stand on one leg, and hold sword level.

Hold.

Hold.

Hold.

Drop into bow stance, and cut.

That last bit was sloppy and slow.  That would get me killed in a combat situation.

I need to stop thinking about that, and focus.

Empty stance, cut with arm swing.

Am I going to find out everything today?  Am I going to discover my past?

So many unanswered questions…

Step back to strike, then step forward to thrust.

Who am I really?  Who is Sephiroth?

Withdraw sword while moving in a T-step.

Am I even human?  Why do I feel different, why do I look different?  Most people can find the biggest difference in my eyes.  My eyes gleam with a cold, green stare that I have been told looks like the gateway to hell.

Circle sword overhead horizontally.

Thrust forward in bow stance.

Wait…?

I fall into a Ssu Lieu Bu stance, and stop, finished.

Am I afraid to find out the truth?

_-fin_


End file.
